RICHMOND — Gov. Terry McAuliffe has asked two cabinet secretaries to head a new look at emergency evacuation plans for Hampton Roads after an exercise two weeks ago showed that "we could not evacuate if we had a major catastrophe," he said.

The difficulty of a hurricane or other emergency evacuation in the area is well known, given the constricting geography. The state's current hurricane plan — available online and dated May 2013 — says an evacuation would have to account for as many as 900,000 people in 400,000 cars in the area.

It would effect as many as 1.2 million people up and down the Virginia coast if a hurricane came during peak tourist season, the plan states.

Since Hurricane Isabel hit some 11 years ago, gates have been installed along Interstate 64 to shut the highway to eastbound traffic in an emergency, opening the whole road to fleeing motorists. Officials tested that system last year and said it went smoothly.

But a "tabletop exercise" held earlier this month in Richmond, attended by McAuliffe and his cabinet, as well as emergency and law enforcement officials, made it "clear and evident we can't get folks out of the Hampton Roads region," McAuliffe said.

The governor mentioned the issue Thursday during a visit to a Richmond high school, then followed up with the Daily Press at a brief press conference after the event. Later on, the governor's press office said it was too early in the process for administration officials to go into further detail.

Press Secretary Brian Coy promised announcements soon. Jeff Stern, the new state coordinator for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, said that "as a new administration" it makes sense to do "a review of the adequacy of our plan."

McAuliffe said Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran and Sectretary of Transportation Aubrey Layne will oversee this review. He said he wants another tabletop exercise — this time in Hampton Roads — to go over state evactuation plans.

"I told them at the end of that (last) meeting, this is a top priority for me," McAuliffe said. "I want us to get down to the region and let's have an honest discussion about what we need to do."

There are plans to build a new U.S. 460, but McAuliffe suspended the project earlier this year after it became apparent the state had spent close to $300 million on the road with no guarantee that the proposed route would get a required permit from the Army Corps of Engineers.

McAuliffe and Layne have both said they support the concept behind the 460 project, which would provide a new evacuation route as well as a new truck route for port traffic. The road may take another route than the southern path already planned, though, and that would rachet up the costs if previous design and testing work is thrown away.

McAuliffe reiterated his general support for the project's concept Thursday, and for other area road improvements. The Virginia Department of Transportation already plans to widen parts of I-64.